Is it time for SUNSHINE in WI?
Is it time for SUNSHINE in WI?
Today is the start of SUNSHINE WEEK! I hope we have a FULLY SUNNY week because I believe that WE THE PEOPLE of WI desperately need SUNSHINE into our WI State Government. We’ve been through weeks of lack of openness in our WI State Government at a level which is alarming – close to a total eclipse of the sun!
Writing in the Wisconsin State Journal on Friday, the 11th of March, Mark Pitch, an assistant city editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, who is president of the Madison professional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists; mpitsch@madison.com wrote an announcement in his guest OpEd column, “Time to celebrate open government.”
Having explained the name, “Madison” given to our WI state capital and quoting James Madison, ““Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives,” Mark identifies the purpose of SUNSHINE WEEK, “Sunshine Week promotes the importance of freedom of information and open government at all levels. Through Sunshine Week, sponsors ASNE, SPJ and others hope the public is inspired to learn more about how government makes decisions and encourage government to share information with the public.” For more information, use the link above to read Mark’s column.
Our Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council announced its Openness Awards winners last Thursday (3/10) in advance of Sunshine Week, a national effort to draw attention to the public's right to know, which starts today – Sunday (3/13).
“Political Openness Advocate” awards were bestowed on state Rep. Joe Parisi of Madison and former state Sen. Pat Kreitlow of Chippewa Falls for their work to gain passage of the state's Whistleblower Protection Act. Other honors went to Citizen Openness Advocate, Don Bubolz of Vesper; Media Openness Advocate, Ryan Foley of The Associated Press; Open Records Scoop, Christine Won of the Racine Journal Times; and Whistleblower, an anonymous Concerned Citizen who spurred the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel series on fraud in the state child care program.
Our WI press has, I believe, worked diligently with conscientious commitment to shine SUNSHINE into our WI State Government since Scott Walker dropped his 2009-2011 Budget Repair Bill BOMB on WI on Friday, the 25th of February. These have been truly days that try men’s souls (apology to THOMAS PAINE from “The Crisis,” 1776-77). WE THE PEOPLE of WI have been well served by our press with coverage of the many facets of the political-economic turmoil/crisis.
I am among those who will continue to rely on our WI press to put SUNSHINE on our WI state government with the conviction that James Madison’s assertion is still true, “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” I continue to ask, “Where will WE THE PEOPLE of WI be on the IDES of MARCH 2011?” What do YOU think?
Here we go…
Mr. E.
John Eyster lives in the Edgerton area. He is an adjunct professor of political science at UW-Waukesha and an advocate for democracy/civics education in Wisconsin high schools. John is a community blogger and is not a part of The Gazette staff. His opinion is not necessarily that of the The Gazette staff or management.
Mar 14, 2011 at 11:30 p.m.
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justmy414, did you read the rest? Did walker try to lecture others on civility and then turn around and be uncivil? The point was pointing to john's continued hypocrisies, this being just one of them.
If you would to discuss a phone call made by a bogus person pretending to be someone by all means go ahead.
Mar 14, 2011 at 11:27 p.m.
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John here is a clear example of failure to open government.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011...
Mar 14, 2011 at 3:17 p.m.
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RetiredAirForce, need I remind you that Walker is the one who referred to the bill as a "bomb" in his phone call to the person he thought was David Koch. Walker: we got together "before we dropped the bomb." Makes you wonder, if he thought this bill was so modest, why refer to it as a bomb? Oh, that's right because Walker is a liar.
Mar 13, 2011 at 7:07 p.m.
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If you read my post you would have realizesd I was merely pointing out the vulgarity of protesters scrawling grafitti on a branch of M & I -I also called the person(s) responsible hypocritical and questioned whether they considered this to be a non-violent, peaceful & lawful protest--I did not write the grafitti--I questioned the ethics of those who wrote it
Mar 13, 2011 at 4:36 p.m.
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panthony61: Rule number one of our comment policy says "Keep it clean. Comments that are obscene, vulgar or sexually oriented will be removed. Creative spelling of such terms or implied use of such language is banned, also."
You broke this rule, and your post was removed.
Dave von Falkenstein
The Janesville Gazette
Mar 13, 2011 at 3:40 p.m.
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thanks for removing my post--the truth must hurt you dems and union hypocrites-try and explain how spray painting swear words on an
M & I branch is a "peaceful non-violent, lawful" protest-or will you remove my post again
Mar 13, 2011 at 3:32 p.m.
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I'm glad that we can have the freedom to vote and that the process is respected. So now that we voted and the "Budget repair bill" is law we can turn to our leaders and thank them for their efforts and turn our attention to the process for towns and counties to balance their budgets without raping the taxpayer. Let the sun shine on fairness.
Mar 13, 2011 at 3:16 p.m.
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John, we have SUNSHINE in the capital, and around most of Wisconsin. The DARK CLOUD with 14 necrotic lumps was seen FLOATING LIKE A TURD around Madison yesterday. I ASSERT WE HAVE SUNSHINE and getting more because we have a brighter future. The clouds of UNION OPPRESSION, BAD EDUCATION, OVERPAYMENT FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES is starting to blow away. The storm of oppression over our great state is leaving! I ask you Mr. Eyester to clean thy glasses off and look outside, and what you will see with open eyes is the beginning of greatness.
Mar 13, 2011 at 2:13 p.m.
Mar 13, 2011 at 12:46 p.m.
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Great! Maybe someone will come forth under the Whistleblower Act and shed some light on the heavy handed tactics of the union.
Mar 13, 2011 at 11:25 a.m.
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relax - do you wish to qualify your comment in any way?
Mar 13, 2011 at 11:24 a.m.
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And as I look out the window, the sun is shining on Packerland. ;-)
Mar 13, 2011 at 11:11 a.m.
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Very funny about the Bears.
That explains a lot.
I am sorry for your loss.
Mar 13, 2011 at 11:06 a.m.
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I wonder if the author knows that the negotiations between schoolboards and teachers unions are NOT open to the public.
The public is kept in the dark while union elected board members are discussing contract terms with THE UNION on how to spend taxpayers money.
LET THE SUN SHINE!!!
Mar 13, 2011 at 11:02 a.m.
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Most of your opining could go where the sun DOESN"T shine.
Mar 13, 2011 at 9:01 a.m.
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So today, you want open government. Here's a hint. Open government does *not* mean running across the border when you encounter a piece of legislation you don't like. If you want to know what's going on and participate, you have to stick around on the good days as well as the bad.
Ya know, EYESORE, when the Bears lost the NFC championship, I was totally bummed, thoroughly depressed, and highly p***ed off. But I haven't spend every single day since then whining about it.
You're a paid lobbyist, and the product you were shilling lost. Get over it. Man up if you're able, trash your keyboard if you're not. But stop being one of the Whiners of March.
"All that is necessary for socialism to triumph in the world is for good men to do nothing."
Please! Please! Flush the JOHN!
Mar 13, 2011 at 8:19 a.m.
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John as a reminder from one of you past blogs, you wrote;
"I deeply and truly agree with Sheriff Dupnik that media “VIRTRIOL” is not healthy in our American political culture. As he said, “The fiery rhetoric that has taken hold in politics, may be free speech, but it's not without consequences."
Now today you are posting words, "Budget Repair Bill BOMB" while claiming there is no openness to the current government.
Your hypocrisy is amazing.
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